This Entry Was Written Over The Course of Three Days, I Apologize If It Isn't Pieced Together Very Well. When I was thirteen, I knew that I was different. I was confused, and upset, and I denied my differences in the face of other complications. I was a pre-teen, I didn't know as much about myself as I do now. There was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. I couldn't figure out why, when I watched television or read magazines, I kept looking at all the pretty girls. I shied away from what that sort of attraction would mean. I stopped watching MTV, where the feminine flaunting happened most often. I opted out of subscriptions to girlie magazines. For the next three years I hid in the back of my mind all of those thoughts that I decided would derail me.
Three years later, a handful of my friends started to "come out". At this time, I had been an activist for LGBT rights (from a "straight" standpoint) so I don't think my friends were uncomfortable sharing this aspect of their lives with me. I remembered being jealous, that they were certain, that they were brave enough, that they were comfortable enough with themselves that they could just put the truth out there.
I remember the April after my sixteenth birthday, I was out with a friend who I had always shared a great deal of my life with. We went back to her house and sat on the couches in her basement. "I have something to tell you". I said. She looked at me, and I felt color rising to my cheeks. "I'm bisexual."
Her response left something to be desired. Without getting into it, lets just say that I didn't tell anyone else. I put it away in my head. I think that at this point, I had resolved to just pretend that I was straight. And I did. The secret weighed on me. I had days where I didn't know what to do, I felt lost. The people I wanted to tell the most were the people that I didn't want to know, because they were the ones that could hurt me the most if they took off.
The weeks before graduating high school I was walking at night with another friend. I had decided that I wasn't going to tell anyone about my sexuality until after graduation. It was such a stressful time, that adding this to it just didn't feel like a good idea. I wanted the possibility of running if things went badly. I wanted to be able to hide.
The summer went by, and I started seeing a boy. I decided immediately that I wasn't going to tell him. I let myself get wrapped up in the relationship, trying to "forget" about my interest in women. By the time we broke up in September, we had only discussed the possibility of my Bisexuality once, and I had confirmed nothing.
We broke up, and I realized that I was in a position where I didn't have to pretend to be straight anymore. I didn't live at home, my friends weren't near me, and I suddenly felt like I didn't care. So I flirted with a handful of girls, without ever even persuing them. The summer relationship had left me heartbroken, and so through everything, I didn't want to be with anyone. But it felt nice to not have to hide, not have to confess. "Are you bisexual?" People would ask, and I could just say "Yes."
Some days I have a hard time figuring everything through in my head. I want to just say that I'll never be in any relationship, and I will be happy by myself, because then I won't have to deal with the backlash. But I chide myself when those thoughts enter my head, because I have every right to happiness and I should do what makes me happy, and be with whoever makes me happy. I tell myself that whether my friends can accept me for who I am or not, they have been good friends and are entitled to their opinions. The same goes for my family. I'm not here to make a statement, or throw anything in anyone's face. I'm just trying to find myself and do what makes me happy and what makes me, me.